LGBTQ
music is more than just disco dance music for shirtless
men and brooding folk music for feminist women. Gay
rappers, gay rockers, gay country singers, and gay hip hop
stars are on the rise. Previous decades of music that
included groundbreaking pioneers like David Bowie, the
Village People, George Michael, Joan Jett, Elton John,
and Freddie Mercury have given way to today's young,
openly gay musicians like Le1f, Troye Sivan, Adam
Lambert, Sam Smith, and Olly
Alexander (Years and Years).

LGBTQ
(Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer) music
is music focusing on LGBTQ issues performed by LGBTQ
artists and performers. The lyrics are largely about
empowerment, same-sex relationships, love, acceptance,
freedom, gay pride and the courage to come out to the
general public. Starting in the 2010s, it became more
popular among Americans, as when openly-gay artist Adam
Lambert topped the 2012 Billboard 200 chart.

While popular music has always included LGBTQ artists,
the increasing social tolerance of the late 20th and
early 21st century allowed such artists to come out
publicly. Early examples of this arose with the sexual
liberation movement, with artists such as Elton John,
Village People, Sylvester, Tom Robinson, Indigo Girls,
KD Lang, Melissa Etheridge, Queen, David Bowie, Little Richard, and Marc
Almond (Soft Cell), among others.

In the 1980's, the exposure of
openly LGBTQ artists became richer, with artists such as
Boy George (Culture Club), George Michael (Wham), Frankie Goes to Hollywood,
Michael Stipe (REM), Sylvester, Neil Tennant (Pet Shop Boys), Dead or Alive,
Adam Bell (Erasure), and the B52s as well as
artists who are openly LGBTQ allies, such as Cher, Cyndi
Lauper, Madonna, Kylie Minogue, Donna Summer, Jessica
Lowndes and Gloria Gaynor, among many others.

The 1990s
saw a start of a fair introduction to pro-LGBTQ laws,
and artists condemning homophobia in their music. Groups
such as Placebo, Alcazar, Right Said Fred, and more
joined the ranks of allies and LGBTQ musicians.
The 1990s alsdo introduced Ani DeFranco, Sia, Rufus Wainwright,
Ray Boltz, Two Nice Girls (Gretchen Phillips), Skin
(Skunk Anansie), Sophie B. Hawkins, Stephin
Merritt (The Magnetic Fields), Kaia Wilson, Carrie
Brownstein, and Rostam
Batmanglij (Vampire Weekend).

In the 2010s, openly-gay artists such as
Sam Smith, Azealia Banks, Mary Lambert, Matt Morris,
Frank Ocean, Tegan & Sara, Troye Sivan, and rapper Le1f
(Khalif
Diouf) gained popularity.
Well-established country music singer Chely Wright came
out as gay in 2010. Another country singer, Ty Herndon, came out
as gay in 2014, after three number one hits on Billboard
Hot Country Songs.